This week’s IFS speaker is Joseph Baine, who will give two talks on the moduli space of algebraic curves. We will either meet in Carslaw 830 as usual or on the SMRI terrace like in the good old days, TBA. Time and Date: Friday, 12 and 9 June, 9-11am Location: Carslaw 830 or the SMRI terrace, and online Zoom link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/84792295528 Title: The moduli space of algebraic curves Abstract: These talks will provide a gentle introduction to the moduli space of algebraic curves, some aspects of their beautiful geometry and the result that the moduli space of stable curves of genus g>= 2 is a smooth, proper, and irreducible Deligne-Mumford stack of dimension 3g-3 admitting a projective, coarse moduli space. Reminder: This semester we will cover several topics in the IFS, spending around two weeks with every speaker. As usual, the goal of the seminar is to give the flavour of the subject, not all the nitty gritty details. Questions and sidebars are encouraged, and well emphasise examples, intuition, tools and historical diversions. The talks are intended to be conversational, so come ready to engage! The website remains https://sites.google.com/view/ifssydney/home If you would like to give a talk in the IFS, please write to me and let me know what dates you would prefer. We’re looking for topics related to the working group’s research area but not directly in it. The speaker could be an expert or may have just started learning the topic themselves.